IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v135y2021ics1364032120305712.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Towards hydrogen production from waste activated sludge: Principles, challenges and perspectives

Author

Listed:
  • Fu, Qizi
  • Wang, Dongbo
  • Li, Xiaoming
  • Yang, Qi
  • Xu, Qiuxiang
  • Ni, Bing-Jie
  • Wang, Qilin
  • Liu, Xuran

Abstract

Hydrogen production from waste activated sludge (WAS) was widely considered and intensively investigated as a promising technology to recover energy from wastewater treatment plants. To date, no efforts have been made on either systematic summarization or critical thinking of the application niche of hydrogen production from WAS treatment. It is therefore time to evaluate whether and how to recover hydrogen in a future paradigm of WAS treatment. In this critical review, the principles and potentials, microorganisms, possible technologies, and process parameters of hydrogen generation were analyzed. Microbial electrolysis cell shows high theoretical hydrogen yield and could utilize a variety of organic compounds as substrates, which is regarded as a prospective technology for hydrogen production. However, the poor organics utilization and rapid consumptions of produced hydrogen hindered hydrogen recovery from WAS. Based on the analysis of the current state of the literatures, the opportunities and challenges of hydrogen production from WAS are rethought, the detailed knowledge gaps and perspective of hydrogen production from WAS were discussed, and the probable solutions of hydrogen recovery from WAS treatment are figured out. To guide the application and development of hydrogen recovery, a more promising avenue through rational integration of the available technologies to form a hybrid process is finally proposed. The integrated operational paradigm of WWTPs could achieve substantial technical, environmental and economic benefits. In addition, how this hybrid process works is illustrated, the challenges of this hybrid process and future efforts to be made in the future are put forward.

Suggested Citation

  • Fu, Qizi & Wang, Dongbo & Li, Xiaoming & Yang, Qi & Xu, Qiuxiang & Ni, Bing-Jie & Wang, Qilin & Liu, Xuran, 2021. "Towards hydrogen production from waste activated sludge: Principles, challenges and perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:135:y:2021:i:c:s1364032120305712
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2020.110283
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032120305712
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2020.110283?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bahadar, Ali & Bilal Khan, M., 2013. "Progress in energy from microalgae: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 128-148.
    2. Escapa, A. & Mateos, R. & Martínez, E.J. & Blanes, J., 2016. "Microbial electrolysis cells: An emerging technology for wastewater treatment and energy recovery. From laboratory to pilot plant and beyond," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 942-956.
    3. Valdez-Vazquez, Idania & Poggi-Varaldo, Héctor M., 2009. "Hydrogen production by fermentative consortia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 1000-1013, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Amro Hassanein & Freddy Witarsa & Stephanie Lansing & Ling Qiu & Yong Liang, 2020. "Bio-Electrochemical Enhancement of Hydrogen and Methane Production in a Combined Anaerobic Digester (AD) and Microbial Electrolysis Cell (MEC) from Dairy Manure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-12, October.
    2. He, Yanying & Li, Yiming & Li, Xuecheng & Liu, Yingrui & Wang, Yufen & Guo, Haixiao & Hou, Jiaqi & Zhu, Tingting & Liu, Yiwen, 2023. "Net-zero greenhouse gas emission from wastewater treatment: Mechanisms, opportunities and perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    3. Quanguo Zhang & Youzhou Jiao & Chao He & Roger Ruan & Jianjun Hu & Jingzheng Ren & Sara Toniolo & Danping Jiang & Chaoyang Lu & Yameng Li & Yi Man & Huan Zhang & Zhiping Zhang & Chenxi Xia & Yi Wang &, 2024. "Biological fermentation pilot-scale systems and evaluation for commercial viability towards sustainable biohydrogen production," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Joanna Kazimierowicz & Marcin Dębowski & Marcin Zieliński & Sławomir Kasiński & Jordi Cruz Sanchez, 2024. "Biotechnological Valorization of Waste Glycerol into Gaseous Biofuels—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-33, January.
    5. Abdur Rawoof, Salma Aathika & Kumar, P. Senthil & Vo, Dai-Viet N. & Devaraj, Thiruselvi & Subramanian, Sivanesan, 2021. "Biohythane as a high potential fuel from anaerobic digestion of organic waste: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    6. Du, Haixia & Shao, Zongping, 2022. "Synergistic effects between solid potato waste and waste activated sludge for waste-to-power conversion in microbial fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    7. Hosseinzadeh, Ahmad & Zhou, John L. & Li, Xiaowei & Afsari, Morteza & Altaee, Ali, 2022. "Techno-economic and environmental impact assessment of hydrogen production processes using bio-waste as renewable energy resource," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    8. Sebastian Fredershausen & Henrik Lechte & Mathias Willnat & Tobias Witt & Christine Harnischmacher & Tim-Benjamin Lembcke & Matthias Klumpp & Lutz Kolbe, 2021. "Towards an Understanding of Hydrogen Supply Chains: A Structured Literature Review Regarding Sustainability Evaluation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-19, October.
    9. Bui, Van Ga & Tu Bui, Thi Minh & Ong, Hwai Chyuan & Nižetić, Sandro & Bui, Van Hung & Xuan Nguyen, Thi Thanh & Atabani, A.E. & Štěpanec, Libor & Phu Pham, Le Hoang & Hoang, Anh Tuan, 2022. "Optimizing operation parameters of a spark-ignition engine fueled with biogas-hydrogen blend integrated into biomass-solar hybrid renewable energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    10. Manuel García & Paula Oulego & Mario Díaz & Sergio Collado, 2021. "Non-Energetic Chemical Products by Fermentation of Hydrolyzed Sewage Sludge," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-37, May.
    11. Kovalev, Andrey A. & Kovalev, Dmitriy A. & Zhuravleva, Elena A. & Katraeva, Inna V. & Panchenko, Vladimir & Fiore, Ugo & Litti, Yuri V., 2022. "Two-stage anaerobic digestion with direct electric stimulation of methanogenesis: The effect of a physical barrier to retain biomass on the surface of a carbon cloth-based biocathode," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 966-977.
    12. Joanna Kazimierowicz & Marcin Dębowski & Marcin Zieliński, 2022. "Effectiveness of Hydrogen Production by Bacteroides vulgatus in Psychrophilic Fermentation of Cattle Slurry," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-9, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sánchez-Bayo, Alejandra & López-Chicharro, Daniel & Morales, Victoria & Espada, Juan José & Puyol, Daniel & Martínez, Fernando & Astals, Sergi & Vicente, Gemma & Bautista, Luis Fernando & Rodríguez, R, 2020. "Biodiesel and biogas production from Isochrysis galbana using dry and wet lipid extraction: A biorefinery approach," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 188-195.
    2. Feng, Huan & Zhang, Bo & He, Zhixia & Wang, Shuang & Salih, Osman & Wang, Qian, 2018. "Study on co-liquefaction of Spirulina and Spartina alterniflora in ethanol-water co-solvent for bio-oil," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 1093-1101.
    3. Khan, Mohd Atiqueuzzaman & Ngo, Huu Hao & Guo, Wenshan & Liu, Yiwen & Zhang, Xinbo & Guo, Jianbo & Chang, Soon Woong & Nguyen, Dinh Duc & Wang, Jie, 2018. "Biohydrogen production from anaerobic digestion and its potential as renewable energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 129(PB), pages 754-768.
    4. Bergthorson, Jeffrey M. & Thomson, Murray J., 2015. "A review of the combustion and emissions properties of advanced transportation biofuels and their impact on existing and future engines," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1393-1417.
    5. Satinover, Scott J. & Schell, Dan & Borole, Abhijeet P., 2020. "Achieving high hydrogen productivities of 20 L/L-day via microbial electrolysis of corn stover fermentation products," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    6. Łukajtis, Rafał & Hołowacz, Iwona & Kucharska, Karolina & Glinka, Marta & Rybarczyk, Piotr & Przyjazny, Andrzej & Kamiński, Marian, 2018. "Hydrogen production from biomass using dark fermentation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 665-694.
    7. Rousseau, Raphaël & Etcheverry, Luc & Roubaud, Emma & Basséguy, Régine & Délia, Marie-Line & Bergel, Alain, 2020. "Microbial electrolysis cell (MEC): Strengths, weaknesses and research needs from electrochemical engineering standpoint," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    8. Abdur Rawoof, Salma Aathika & Kumar, P. Senthil & Vo, Dai-Viet N. & Devaraj, Thiruselvi & Subramanian, Sivanesan, 2021. "Biohythane as a high potential fuel from anaerobic digestion of organic waste: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    9. Kong, Fanying & Ren, Hong-Yu & Pavlostathis, Spyros G. & Nan, Jun & Ren, Nan-Qi & Wang, Aijie, 2020. "Overview of value-added products bioelectrosynthesized from waste materials in microbial electrosynthesis systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    10. López-González, D. & Puig-Gamero, M. & Acién, F.G. & García-Cuadra, F. & Valverde, J.L. & Sanchez-Silva, L., 2015. "Energetic, economic and environmental assessment of the pyrolysis and combustion of microalgae and their oils," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1752-1770.
    11. Samiee-Zafarghandi, Roudabeh & Karimi-Sabet, Javad & Abdoli, Mohammad Ali & Karbassi, Abdolreza, 2018. "Supercritical water gasification of microalga Chlorella PTCC 6010 for hydrogen production: Box-Behnken optimization and evaluating catalytic effect of MnO2/SiO2 and NiO/SiO2," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 189-201.
    12. Wu, Lan & Wei, Wei & Song, Lan & Woźniak-Karczewska, Marta & Chrzanowski, Łukasz & Ni, Bing-Jie, 2021. "Upgrading biogas produced in anaerobic digestion: Biological removal and bioconversion of CO2 in biogas," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    13. Geada, Pedro & Rodrigues, Rui & Loureiro, Luís & Pereira, Ricardo & Fernandes, Bruno & Teixeira, José A. & Vasconcelos, Vítor & Vicente, António A., 2018. "Electrotechnologies applied to microalgal biotechnology – Applications, techniques and future trends," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 656-668.
    14. Beegle, Jeffrey R. & Borole, Abhijeet P., 2018. "Energy production from waste: Evaluation of anaerobic digestion and bioelectrochemical systems based on energy efficiency and economic factors," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 343-351.
    15. Gulhane, Madhuri & Pandit, Prabhakar & Khardenavis, Anshuman & Singh, Dharmesh & Purohit, Hemant, 2017. "Study of microbial community plasticity for anaerobic digestion of vegetable waste in Anaerobic Baffled Reactor," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 59-66.
    16. Ndayisenga, Fabrice & Yu, Zhisheng & Zheng, Jianzhong & Wang, Bobo & Liang, Hongxia & Phulpoto, Irfan Ali & Habiyakare, Telesphore & Zhou, Dandan, 2021. "Microbial electrohydrogenesis cell and dark fermentation integrated system enhances biohydrogen production from lignocellulosic agricultural wastes: Substrate pretreatment towards optimization," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    17. Jiang, Yong & Yang, Xufei & Liang, Peng & Liu, Panpan & Huang, Xia, 2018. "Microbial fuel cell sensors for water quality early warning systems: Fundamentals, signal resolution, optimization and future challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 292-305.
    18. Raslavičius, Laurencas & Semenov, Vladimir G. & Chernova, Nadezhda I. & Keršys, Artūras & Kopeyka, Aleksandr K., 2014. "Producing transportation fuels from algae: In search of synergy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 133-142.
    19. Samiee-Zafarghandi, Roudabeh & Karimi-Sabet, Javad & Abdoli, Mohammad Ali & Karbassi, Abdolreza, 2018. "Increasing microalgal carbohydrate content for hydrothermal gasification purposes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 116(PA), pages 710-719.
    20. Gottardo, Marco & Micolucci, Federico & Bolzonella, David & Uellendahl, Hinrich & Pavan, Paolo, 2017. "Pilot scale fermentation coupled with anaerobic digestion of food waste - Effect of dynamic digestate recirculation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(PB), pages 455-463.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:135:y:2021:i:c:s1364032120305712. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.